Curriculum shake-up recommendations

Primary schools should have more flexibility for project work and other cross-curricular teaching says education expert Sir Jim Rose.
Sir Jim has recommended that the national curriculum should be based on six areas of learning, instead of the current range of individual curriculum subjects.
The aim is to give schools more flexibility for project-based cross-curricular learning, though he also says essential that subject-teaching must not disappear and can be encompassed within the six areas.
Sir Jim rules out changing the school start date from the September after the child’s fourth birthday. But parents could be allowed to send their child to school only part time to begin with.
Sir Jim was asked by the government to review the primary curriculum, but was told not to consider SATS in his report. He has commented that every school talked about testing, and it should be reviewed separately. Teachers’ leaders have said his proposals cannot work unless SATS are scrapped.
In this interim report, the review also suggests that the primary curriculum might be better divided into three two-year phases instead of the current two key stages.

The six areas of learning proposed by Sir Jim Rose
Understanding English, communication and languages
Mathematical understanding
Scientific and technological understanding
Human, social and environmental understanding
Understanding physical health and well-being
Understanding the arts and design